Tennis
“They stole my boyfriend.” American Tiafoe forcibly taken away from Russian coach
Photo: © REUTERS / Mike Segar
Mikhail Kuznetsov invested money and effort in the development of a talented tennis player, but in the USA they treated him ugly.
The ending US Open brought several sensations, the loudest of which was the defeat of Rafael Nadal. He was knocked out of the tournament by 24-year-old American Francis Tiafoe, an athlete with a difficult life history, which took place thanks to the belief in him of a Russian coach.
Ros on the court
It seems that he was destined to play tennis by circumstances. Father Tiafoe Francis Sr. is an immigrant from Sierra Leone who worked at a tennis center in Maryland. At first he built it, and then he got the position of supply manager at the academy. Tiafoe Sr. kept order, carried out the necessary repairs and ensured the good condition of the courts. It took him all the time, so he lived right in the academy. The future US tennis star and his twin brother also stayed there on weekdays. How could you not play sports here?
Fortunately for Tiafoe, as the son of a local employee, he was accepted into the section for free, and he took this chance very seriously. But without a competent coach, it would be impossible to break through to the top. Here luck again smiled at Francis in the person of the young coach Mikhail Kuznetsov, who in the USA became just Misha.
Kuznetsov did not have great merits in tennis: he moved to the USA at the age of 15 to train at an academy in Florida, then he learned the language on the spot, received a higher education, but could not say goodbye to tennis. And he began to train in the same center where little Tiafoe played.
I paid for the uniform and the trip to the first tournament
On his first day at work, Kuznetsov drew attention to the eight-year-old Francis. The high growth and athleticism of the African American attracted his attention. He agreed with Father Tiafoe that he would take patronage over him. And at the same time he decided to motivate the young talent by promising to pay him a trip to the children’s tournament. The boy’s family did not have the funds for this.
They went to those competitions together, and Francis played in the uniform that Kuznetsov bought for him. He won that tournament by saying his first word in the world of tennis. A word that would not exist without a specialist from Russia.
Since then, the duo of coach and student has not stopped working and dreaming of victories among professionals. For the sake of individual work with Tiafoe and traveling with him to tournaments, Kuznetsov resigned from the center in Maryland. The young tennis player managed to get closer to his dream by leaps and bounds – at 15 he won the prestigious Orange Bowl junior tournament, and in the USA they started talking about Tiafoe as the heir to Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick. This played a cruel joke on Kuznetsov.
“They stole my boyfriend”
When Tiafoe was 17 years old, the unexpected happened: the US Tennis Federation decided to replace his coach. Talk about the fact that Kuznetsov’s lack of playing and coaching experience in the ATP hinder the progress of his student has been going on for a long time. And as soon as the federation fully appreciated the potential of Tiafoe, it decided to intervene in his preparation.
“This, of course, is frustrating, because I have invested 9 years in it,” said Kuznetsov. And they stole my boyfriend. It was a huge financial and moral responsibility that I carried with my wife. This should not happen to private trainers in the US. They raise tennis players, give everything for their development, and then a new strategy appears.
The general manager of the development federation, Patrick McEnroe, did not call this interference, but chose softer epithets – help and support. But this does not change the fact: Jose Higueras, a 16-time ATP tournament winner and coach of Michael Chang and Jim Courier, and Nicolas Todero, a former professional tennis player, started working with Tiafoe.
Tiafoe could not hide his delight at the fact that now he has to work with eminent athletes. But just like that, he did not forget his first coach.
“I can’t fully thank him for everything he did,” Tiafoe said then about Kuznetsov. “Without him, I wouldn’t be who I am today.
“We didn’t even have a backup plan”
What Tiafoe dreamed of together with Kuznetsov, he realized already under the guidance of other specialists: already at the age of 17 he finished the year with the 292nd racket of the world, having won 12 victories in three weeks at the Challengers. This earned him a wild card for the first Roland Garros Grand Slam tournament. Then Tiafoe just continued to progress.
In 2019, he reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, then reached the fourth round of the US Open, and in 2021 at Wimbledon he knocked out Stefanos Tsitsipas. Finally, the loudest success – a victory over Nadal and reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open, which was attended by the wife of former US President Michelle Obama, came to the 24-year-old tennis player just a few days ago.
And yet, Kuznetsov is sure that the very dreams that they spoke with another eight-year-old Francis were the foundation for future victories.
“We were constantly aiming at precisely this,” Kuznetsov said after Tiafoe beat Tsitsipas at the start of Wimbledon. “And they believed in just such an outcome from the very first day. We never said “maybe” to ourselves. This is how you need to think if you are thinking of something very big. We didn’t even have a backup plan because we didn’t need one.
Now Kuznetsov continues to work as a tennis coach in Washington and is no longer associated with a professional relationship with Tiafoe. But his phone keeps ringing after every major student success.
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.